I think it’s interesting to consider what makes a game fun or boring.
What properties make a strategy game better, all else being equal?
Here’s my list!
(1) Variety: the game doesn’t end up getting into the same or similar positions most of the time (so that it feels new each time you play)
(2) Forgiveness: you don’t automatically lose when you make a mistake (which can be frustrating for new players, and unsatisfying to the people that beat them)
(3) Simplicity: fewer and easier to understand rules (so that newer players can get playing faster and so that people who haven’t played in a while have an easier time remembering how to play)
(4) Depth: a player who can plan out into the future one move deeper than another player should have a bit of an advantage, but it shouldn’t be so much as to cause victory automatically (so that there is a meaningful reward for thinking deeper, but not so much that a slightly deeper thinker always wins)
(5) Fairness: your initial order of play does not give any significant amount of advantage
(6) Optionality: you have a moderate number of possibilities to choose between each turn (at least 2, no more than 30, but 5-10 may be ideal so that players don’t feel constrained but also don’t feel overwhelmed or get decision fatigue)
(7) Acceleration: both players grow increasingly powerful throughout the game (as it’s fun gaining in powers even if you end up losing)
(8) Consistency: the game is fairly consistent in how long it takes (so you don’t end up with some games being short and others being multiple hours, which can make it hard to plan or get frustrating or boring)
(9) Duration: the game can be played in multiple formats that let you roughly control its time (e.g., 40m, 1h20m, so you can play in the amount of time you have available or that you prefer)
(10) Significance: most moves you make have some importance to the game, and only rarely is a move irrelevant to the outcome of the whole game
(11) Immersion: the game has an engaging theme representing the “world” of the game which relates deeply to the rules and elements (rather than being superficially tacked on)
(12) Longevity: you can play the game for years while continuing to improve and discover new nuances of tactics and strategy
(13) Speed: experienced players can make their moves relatively quickly (even sophisticated ones), so the other players don’t spend a long time waiting
(14) Possibilities: the game encapsulates a huge range of configurations or situations that differ from each other in meaningful ways
(15) Players: the game works well with different numbers of players (e.g., 2-6)
(16) Comebacks: a player who is reasonably far behind can still realistically come back to win
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